


Black Leader

by rinskiroo



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Black Squadron - Freeform, Gen, Leadership, Pilots
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-19
Updated: 2018-03-19
Packaged: 2019-04-04 10:35:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 736
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14018406
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rinskiroo/pseuds/rinskiroo
Summary: Poe reflects on some of the things that brought him to be a commander in the Resistance, and how best to lead his new pilots.





	Black Leader

Poe’s first squadron was his mom.  Two people, one ship, and the stars.

His first real squadron straight out of the Academy was a rough reminder that he was still a kid.  Pedigree and high scores be damned, that hard-ass Major had put Poe through the ringer.  Made a young Lieutenant work for every single flight hour.  Poe looked up to that old officer, maybe not for the rigid way they had conducted business, but the due diligence and stake they had in their pilots’ successes.

The first squadron he’d commanded—Rapier—they were like kids playing at being heroes.  Never really ready for what a galaxy at war could look like.  They thought they could handle it—thought that with nothing but righteous indignation on their side they could take on the whole bureaucracy.  Poe had lost one of his pilots, and defected with the rest.

Now, as he stood around studying the faces of his newest squadron—old and young, familiar and strangers—Poe contemplated the role of leadership seriously, perhaps for the first time.

With Rapier, he’d felt more like their peer than their leader.  They were most of a similar age and experience.  Downtime was like a frat party and time in the cockpit was spent with banter and games.  But this—he felt responsible for them, more than he had any other squadron in the past.  Karé and Iolo had left the Republic with him and followed him into the Resistance—put their careers on an indefinite hold based on his brash actions.

L’ulo had been his mother’s commanding officer at one point.  Poe respected the hell out of him; thought of him like an uncle which meant that he’d protect that old Duros like he would any member of his family.  Same went for Nien Nunb and Snap Wexley, they were old hats, too, with far more experience than Poe.  To have pilots like them looking to him to lead—Poe hadn’t felt that level of humility in a long time.

On the other side of it were the kids.  The ones who shouldn’t have been old enough to be out here doing this—Jess, Bastian, Tallie, and others.  Kids, like him, who grew up on those old war stories and felt the call to hold onto that peace that was so fiercely won.  He knew he had to be the best for them and make sure they all got home to their parents.

“You just gonna stand up there and stare at us, Commander?”  Jessika Pava, one of the kids, spoke up, a cocky little smirk pulling at her lips that he knew all too well.

Poe grinned, realizing just how lost in his musings he had been.  “Just thinking about all the  drills I’m going to make you run to earn those wings.”

“Earn?”  Bastian asked, his eyebrows shooting upwards with shock.

Poe had talked it over with his Captains and heard their grumblings, and knew it was going to be a tough nugget to swallow for the ones that gave up promising futures to come fly out on the fringe of the galaxy.  A dangerous, thankless job.  The truth of it was that there weren’t enough birds for everyone.  So either they rotated out through the missions, or he picked the very best for Black Squadron.  Later, when more ships were available, he’d split up his premiere squadron and form more stronger squadrons.

“Right now,”  Poe started, carefully looking over his assembled pilots.  “I need the best.  This mission is too important.  We can’t take any chances on failure.

“To that end,”  Poe said after a short pause to let them all glance skeptically at each other.  “I won’t be exempting myself.  Could be a different commander when the dust settles.”

There was a bit of snickering that started with Jess and spread to the rest of the pilots.  She knocked Tallie on the shoulder and they shared their own secret pilot handshake.  “We’re gonna kick all there asses, Tal.”

“Better get used to calling me _Commander_ Lintra, Testor.”

Poe grinned at the lot of them.  There’d be bruised egos at the end of it—and any one of them had the chops to be in Black Squadron.  That’s exactly what the Resistance needed—the best of the best.

And Poe knew he’d have to work his ass off to be on top of his own game.

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on [tumblr](http://rinskiroo.tumblr.com/) and check out the rest of the Poe Dameron Week submissions!


End file.
